The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1887-04-28
MR.. REID'S STATEMENT
OF THE RECENT TROUBLE AT
THE PENITENTIARY.

He Thinks that the Proper Course was
Pursued in Dealing With the Insubor-
dinate COnvicts.
At the meeting of the Directors of tie
Penitentary last week, the recent trouble
at the Penitentiary was carefully inyestl-
gated and the following action taken by
the board
Whereas, various erroneous reports are
in circulation respecting the facts connec-
ted with the late trouble with the cOnvicts
in the Penitentary.
1t is ordered by the board, that Mr.
Reid, of the board, who was present dur
ing large part of the time when the
difficulty was going on, be requested to
prepare a statement of the matter for the
board.
Mr.. Reid prepared and presented the
following, which the board ordered to be
published:
RALEIGH, N. c., April Goth, 1897.
To THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS, N. c. STATE
PENITENTIARY-
CENTENNIAL your request I make
the following statement in reference to
the recent trouble with the convicts at the
Penitentiary. On last Saturday, April
the 10th, about 7 O'Clock p. M, l received
message, through my telephone, from
the Warden of the Penitentiary that there
was some trouble with the convicts.
went at once to the Penitentiary. At the
gate, on the outside, l found the Cover
nor's Guard under command of Capt E.
B. Engelhard. l went Immediately into
the Penitentiary building and found Col.
Hicks, the Warden, who gave me substan-
TALLY the following statement as to what
had occurred up to that hour: He said
that early that morning as the lines were
forming in front of the dining hall, one
of the men, Jim Davis, contrary to the
rules of the prison, left his own line and
went to others, talking to them, etc., for
which he was ordered to the dark cell.
He refused to go, and, while the hall of
ficer went to report this to the deputy
warden, the man went off and hid. When
found in the evening he had stick and
still refused to go. When told to put the
stick down he refused to do so, drawing
back the stick in a threatening manner
when the officer caught the stick. AS he
did So the convict attempted to catch the
officer by the throat. On this attempt on
the part of the convict, the officer, having
taken the site: from him, struck him on
the head with It, At this juncture, there
was some excitement among the convcts,
when one of them offered to take the man
| whereve he was wanted. He then started
to the dark cell. On the way he twice
attempted to throw stone at the officer,
and when getting near the quarry gate
drew knife, backed up IN a jamb Of the
wall and avowed his determination to die
rather than give up his knife or move
from that place, saying that he would kill
any man that touched him. He was
| reasoned with to no purpose. When it
| was found that force had to be resorted
to, three guards were ordered down there
with their "billets'' and he was taken to
the building. On reaching the hall of the
prison he was ordered to give up his knife,
which he refused to do. Just at this time
one of the Overseers stepped In with a
stone hammer and asked to be allowed to
deal with him with his hammer. He was
ordered by the authorities to take the
| hammer away, as a weapon of that kind
was not needed. The guard was then or
dered to knock the knife from his hand
with their "bllets' and secure it. 1t
was found necessary to knock the man
down, which was done, the knife secured
and the man taken to the hospital immed-
| lately to have the wound on his head
| dressed. This created great excitement
and terror among the large number of
prisoners who were in the cell block i'm
mediately adjoining, thinking that the
man had been knocked in the head with
a stone hammer. They were told by the
authorities that this was not true and
finally the authorities told two or three
men, who were comparatively quiet, that
they might go over to the hospital and
see that the man was not dead, and ascer-
tain his real condition. On their return,
when they made their statement to the
prisoners, there seemed to be less excite
ment; but many still claimed that the man
| had been killed, and these men were tax
ing sides with the officers, and they seem
ed to be perfectly panic stricken and
alarmed at being in the hands of officers
that they feared would murder them with
stone hammers. Comparative quiet was
finally restored. At six O'Clock the bell
was rung and all the men turned out for
| supper. On their return to the yard the
excitement increased and they seemed to
be perfectly frenzied for awhile, but no
violence was offered to any one. At this
| time they asked to see the warden who
went out and talked to them, telling them
they must behave themselves and go in
the cell block, which after short while
they did and most of them entered their
cells and were locked; but some seventy
of them remained on the corridors, claim
ing they were afraid violence would be
offered them in case they went in their
cells.
When l reached the Penitentiary all the
convicts, except the seventy mentioned
above, had gone into their cells and were
locked in. The seventy colored convicts,
| who had refused to go into their cells,
were on the cell corridors, were securely
locked within iron bars and were under
the guns of our guards. They could not
possibly get out or injure anyone. When
l saw them, they were not making any
demonstrations at all, nor did I see or
hear them make any at any time. Not
long after l reached the Penitentiary, and
while Col. Hicks and l were consulting as
to the best plan to force the convicts to go
into their cells, the gas suddenly went out
and left us in the dark. We were in this
condition, with only few lamps, until
nearly one o'clock in the morning, when
the gas was turned on again. After the
light was turned on the overseers reported
that upon going into the cell corridors
they found that, while in the dark, the
convicts had torn up some of the bricks
from the basement floor of the cell block.
eve afterwards learned that about fifty of
the bricks had been pulled up.) Having
the convicts perfectly secure, We decided
to wait until morning to take any further
steps. The next morning, after consulta=
ton with the Governor, We decided to give
the conyicts an opportunity to indicate
their willingness to submit quietly to the
authorities of the Penitentiary before re-
sorting to any severe means to compel